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SOCIALISM: UTOPIAN AND SCIENTIFIC
SMEC READING GROUP
SEPTEMBER 23RD, 2017

SECTION 1: THE DEVELOPMENT OF UTOPIAN SOCIALISM
How does Engels evaluate the utopian socialists? What lessons can be learned from them?
Why did they ultimately fail to bring about a better world?

SECTION 2: THE SCIENCE OF DIALECTICS
What is dialectics? Why is Hegel's philosophy important to socialism? How does it differ
from the dialectics of Marx and Engels?

SECTION 3: HISTORICAL MATERIALISM
What are some of the contradictions found in the capitalist mode of production? Engels
points out several. Are there others?

What does "socialized production" mean? What are some examples? How does this
compare to earlier methods of production?

Engels claims that after the state becomes "the real representative of the whole society, it
renders itself unnecessary...(it) is not 'abolished'. It dies out." Why does it die out? When
does it die out? How is this different from abolishing it?

What is the materialist conception of history? How did bourgeois rule come to be? What is
their historic role? How does the bourgeoisie unwittingly build the conditions for
socialism?

What is a commodity? How did it develop and come to dominate? What were the
consequences of commodity production?

According to Engels, how will people and society under communism be different than
under capitalism?